Soil erosion is a costly problem, so it is very important to plan ahead when buying a home. Making sure soil erosion control and rain damage prevention are done right during the original landscaping and building of your home will lead to a nicer overall yard and keeping your yearly maintenance costs down.
The by-product of soil erosion is sediment. You've seen this after a hard rain on your sidewalks and driveways. Sediment from soil erosion is the largest pollutant in our lakes, rivers and streams. If your yard sediment clogs up your storm sewers, it can cause flooding. Any uncovered land on your property, no matter how large or small an area, is susceptible to rain damage and soil erosion.
Sediment from yards can also be a major source of phosphorus in lakes and streams. When you get excess phosphorus, there is a higher likelihood of unhealthy algae blooms. These algae blooms cause an awful smell, and can kill fish and other water life. Rain damage prevention along with soil erosion control is the better way to keep our waterways clear and the environment clean. (Not to mention it is much more cost effective to prevent the damage than to try to restore something after it has been damaged.)
There are key ways to keeping your yard looking better. Some common ways of planning for soil erosion control and rain damage prevention are:
Cover all stock-piled soil you have on your property. When these soil stock-piles are not in use, keeping them covered with a weighted plastic tarp will help with soil erosion control.
Plant a temporary vegetative cover on your unfinished yard. When you have an area of your yard that is bare and won't be touched for a while, just plant something temporarily to help hold the soil in place. Annual rye grass is a good choice for this.
Use mulch. Any areas of soil that are exposed and next to a hard surface, like a sidewalk or driveway, should be covered and stabilized by mulch or mulch and a temporary vegetative covering. There are many types of mulching products, including straw, straw netting blankets and wood fiber blankets. When you place these on large areas of bare ground, you are doing the best thing possible for rain damage prevention and soil erosion control.
When your home landscaping is complete, permanently seed or sod your entire yard. This will stabilize the soil for the life of your yard.
Now that we have covered many soil erosion control methods, we can move to the rain damage prevention of your home.
When a house is built, water that lands on the roof generally runs off and is taken to the ground through gutters and downspouts. Gutters should be properly fitted from the start and pitched toward the downspouts. Keeping the gutters sloping to the downspouts will accelerate water flow, and will allow the water to flow easily. To keep this all from leaking, any joints in the gutters and downspouts should be caulked.
Downspouts are normally found on the corners of the house. All downspouts should be properly fitted with screws and sealers. At the bottom of the downspout, piping situated underground is connected and all water will be taken away from the house through subsurface drainage.
Although this design for rain damage prevention and soil erosion control has been around for many years, sometime it can be very costly. If any maintenance is needed, whether due to leakage or clogging, you can be looking at a hefty bill.
Now enters the "new kid on the block" for rain damage prevention and soil erosion control. There is a product on the market that actually extends your downspout far enough out into your yard to help keep your home safe from rain damage and soil erosion. Rainguard Downspout Extensions are placed on the bottom of a downspout and they roll out when it rains to drain the water away from your home. What is especially nice about these extensions are that they roll back up and out of the way when it is not raining.
So, as you can see, you have many options for soil erosion control and rain damage prevention in property you own and maintain. A rain storm does not have to be a problem for you or your environment.
This article was prepared for this soil
erosion control site, please visit them for more information.
How To Get More Networking Equipment For Your Dollar
Copyright 2006 Warwick Data Systems,Inc.
If your computer network keeps expanding and the associated networking equipment costs keep increasing, you might want to consider buying equipment in the secondary market. This is a place where you can purchase used or unused brand name equipment; such as, servers, routers, LAN switches and more at substantial savings. Savings of 50-70% of list price are not unusual.
The secondary market for computer equipment was born in the early 1970s when the Federal Government forced IBM to sell equipment and not just rent it. Since that time it is estimated that the secondary market for equipment like computers and WAN and LAN equipment exceeds $20 billion. A few examples of the brands that are readily available on the secondary market are: IBM, Dell, Cisco Systems, Nortel and many more.
In a survey conducted by CIO magazine, which caters to IT executives, found that 77% of companies surveyed buy secondhand or used IT equipment. Surprisingly, the reasons why so many companies are purchasing used equipment go beyond just saving money. Here are some of the reasons that have been mentioned:
Maximize IT Equipment Investment You can save 50-70% on previously owned equipment
Convert Surplus Equipment into Cash You can sell your un-needed equipment or trade it in towards other equipment
Quick Delivery for Emergency Needs Dealers in the secondary market can typically provide equipment much faster than the manufacturer
More Personalized Service Dealers, being smaller companies than the Manufacturer, are more flexible and responsive
More Services Available Secondary market dealers will offer services that the manufacturer may not offer, such as a short term rental program, trade-ins, an integrated solution with mixed vendors and initial set up services
If you are a newbie in purchasing equipment on the secondary market there are some very good questions you need to ask before buying from a dealer. Getting the right answers will make it a pleasant experience. Here are the questions you need to ask?
How long has the dealer been in business? Try to deal with someone who has been around a good number of years and can provide references
Is the equipment tested and how thoroughly? This is a must and a printout of test results is very desirable
What is the warranty on the equipment? There should be a minimum of a 90 day warranty
If your require on site maintenance can they provide it? Can the dealer put this equipment on the manufacturerfs maintenance program or on a third party maintenance plan What is the companyfs return policy?
Will this equipment look like new? Ask the dealer what they do to make the equipment look as close to new as possible
What kind of technical support is available? If you need, can you receive pre-sale and post-sale support if you need it. It is not unreasonable for a dealer to charge for applications support, though.
Manufacturers can sometimes be touchy about maintenance and software issues on previously owned equipment, so make sure all your concerns are dealt with in writing. If you get all the right answers to the above questions and deal with someone who has been in this business for a good many years your experience in the secondary market should be a pleasant one.
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Alex Lakatos is an expert on the secondary market for networking hardware, starting Warwick Data Systems in 1983 to sell new and used computer networking equipment. His web site is http://www.warwickdata.com
How to upgrade your CPU - Part 2
Copyright 2006 Michael Cottier
Now that we have talked about what CPU you should get, next is the removal and installation process of upgrading your CPU. First you need to shut down your computer completely, unplug all cables connected to it, and lay it out in an open workspace, preferably a wood table. You also will need a Philips and flathead screw driver and before you open your computer or anything, be sure to touch a metal surface to ground yourself and avoid any static electricity.
With everything ready to go, unscrew or slide off your computers case cover to get a look inside of your computer. Once you can see inside, you will see your motherboard, which is the big circuit board in the middle that connects every part together. When you look at the motherboard, kind of near the middle or top left, you will see a square with a metal heatsink and a fan on top of it. This is your CPU and the first thing you need to do is remove the heatsink. This is a very tricky and risky part of upgrading your CPU, since the heat sink is very securely fastened on top of your CPU. What you need to do first is unhook the fan's power. To do this you just need to find the wire that is going from the fan to the motherboard and unplug it. Then after that please study the heat sink latching mechanism and unlatch it. Some heat sink latches are different, so that is why I cannot give you a detailed description on how to unhook it.
When unlatching the heatsink you want to be sure to not scratch the motherboard or even touch it with your screwdriver. It may be hard, but you cannot do this or your motherboard most likely will not work anymore. This is why many people are scared to do it there selves, but I assure you, if you take it slow and exercise caution you will do just fine.
After you heatsink is gone and your CPU is showing, you will be able to remove it. To do this, you just have to lift the locking lever up (vertical) then just get a grip of the CPU and lift it up and out of its socket. CPU sockets and slots since the 1990's use zero force insertion, which means the CPU just sits in there and no force is required to install or uninstall it.
Now that your old CPU has been taken out you can put a new one in. First just make sure that the locking latch is in the up position ready for your new CPU. Now that you are ready you can insert your new CPU.
Processors are fragile, so when you do this do not try to cram it in there. Just remember that CPU's use zero force for insertion, so you just need to lay your CPU in there. Before you do though you need to find out which way you need to lay it. Every CPU has a notch on one of the corners and needs to match up to the point where the CPU holder has a notch. Then when the CPU is in place, properly, you can now push the locking latch back down.
Next you need to put the heatsink back on top of it, but first you need to locate your CPU's die and put the thermal compound that came with your CPU. Your CPU's die is the grayish looking square that is dead center on top of your CPU. After your thermal compound is properly applied, you are ready to put the heatsink on. Make sure the heatsink is facing the correct direction, and then gently sit it on top of the CPU. The thermal compound will cushion your CPU between the heatsink so no need to worry about scratching it.
Now is the tricky part all over again, latching your heat sink back on. Just like you unlatched it to remove your CPU, you need to do the opposite to latch it back on. As I said before, take your time and exercise caution when doing this so you don't scratch your mother board.
Now just hook the CPU fans power back up by plugging the power wire back into the correct spot on your motherboard, where it was before. This is easy because usually the hookup spot on your mother board is labeled "CPU FAN" and is located right next to the CPU's location.
Finally you should check over your work and make sure the heatsink is securely fastened, all wires are secured, and everything looks good. If all is good, then put your case cover back on and screw it in. Then you can hook all of your computer cables back up again and power on your computer. Dust off your hands and pat yourself on the back because you have just completed your first CPU upgrade.
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For step by step photo installation instructions visit Michael's CPU upgrade page at http://www.computer-customizing-guide.com/cpu-upgrade.html You can also learn how to upgrade every other computer part with his website http://www.computer-customizing-guide.com/
